


Balancing Act

by randi2204



Series: Steampunk!Seven [10]
Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-22
Updated: 2012-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-31 13:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/344731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randi2204/pseuds/randi2204
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josiah's eyeing his books, and that makes Nathan a little nervous...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Balancing Act

**Author's Note:**

  * For [farad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/farad/gifts).



> Disclaimer: They belong to MGM, Mirisch and Trilogy.

Thing was, Nathan knew he’d been right when he’d said someone needed to keep an eye on Josiah, make sure he didn’t blow up the church like he’d done his lab.  Any time they could keep Josiah from turning things into kindling, well, that was a good thing in Nathan’s book, since it meant he didn’t have to pluck the shrapnel outta anybody, particularly Josiah.  And JD watchin’ him was good, too, since it wasn’t _him_.  None of the others had seemed likely to volunteer, and Ezra would have done a half-assed job at best, tryin’ to keep from gettin’ his clothes dirty. 

 

Not that he would have volunteered in any case, ‘cause Nathan hadn’t missed that witherin’ look he shot Chris when the matter came up.

 

Now Nathan wasn’t so sure he’d thought things through as far as he should.  JD was in his clinic for burns and cuts and gettin’ knocked unconscious a helluva lot more often, and Josiah always came up with him.  And when Josiah came up, he always gave Nathan’s medical books – his prized possessions, ones he saved a long time to get – a long thoughtful look.

 

Whenever he noticed it, that look made Nathan a little nervous.

 

Because what if Josiah turned his gear-and-wheel thinkin’ to somethin’ that _didn’t_ go boom? Somethin’ that he thought could be used medically, that he thought _Nathan_ might wanna use?  Somethin’ he wanted Nathan to _test_ on someone?

 

That wasn’t anythin’ he wanted to contemplate.

 

JD got real talkative when he’d been clouted ‘round the head, so Nathan knew that Josiah was busy working on something he called an Iron Horse – which didn’t make no sense, because iron horses were trains and trains weren’t no use without rails – and that was takin’ up most of his time, now that he’d gotten that damned gun outta his system.  Nathan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief for that, because when Josiah had his mind on somethin’, it took a body a lot of effort to shift him away from it.  Even the packages he got sometimes weren’t a real guarantee of gettin’ his attention.

 

Much as he liked Josiah and truly admired his brilliance when it didn’t make somethin’ blow up, he was still dreadin’ the day Josiah asked to borrow his _Household Medicine and Surgery_.  He knew it would only be a matter of time…

 

After he had to amputate two of Jake McGee’s fingers, it occurred to him that maybe he ought to offer the books to Josiah his own self, because a mechanical hand couldn’t be worse than no hand at all.

**Author's Note:**

> For [farad](http://archiveofourown.org/users/farad/pseuds/farad)'s prompt of _Steampunk!Seven, Nathan – afraid Josiah is going to turn his attention to medical devices he's going to have to test_.


End file.
